The Contest
by Oreocat155338
Summary: When Will gets a brilliant idea for the Gathering, he turns to Crowley. Crowley agreed to do this, and with all fifty-one Rangers and several apprentices in attendance, he enacts Will's plans (but not before kidnapping Cassandra, Horace, Pauline, and Alyss).
1. Prologue

**A/N So you all seemed to like my one-shot, Rangers. I have no idea why, but ok then. I just noticed something and made a story for it.**

 **Anyways, once you read you'll get the idea for this story, but I'm going to need some help (I'll explain under the chapter)**

* * *

"Welcome to the first annual Ranger's Singing Contest." Crowley said. "Will talked me into it for the Gathering, but it doesn't mean you have to limit the song you sing! You all have three days to decide and sing your song in front of the other Rangers. Any questions?"

"If it's a **Ranger's** contest, why's the princess here?" Gilan asked, looking at Cassandra. "Why are there also two members of the diplomatic corps, and a knight here?" He glanced at them, and mouthed ' _no offense_ ' to them, and they nodded.

"The princess is here because her father's off traveling and it would've been unwise to leave her in the castle without a Ranger there." Crowley said. "The Lady Pauline's here so the king doesn't have to worry we dragged her into anything dangerous. The Lady Alyss and the Oakleaf Knight are here because I'm getting revenge on Will for talking me into this. Any other questions?"

"Who's going first?" One of the apprentice's asked. "And will we be joining in on this?"

"No." Crowley said. "Just the full-fledged Rangers, and Horace. And as for your first question, Will be performing first, tomorrow morning. And even though you didn't ask, Princess Cassandra, and the ladies Alyss and Pauline shall be the judges."

"Do we have a choice in this?" Pauline asked with a wry smile. "Crowley, how will we choose the winner?"

"You'll listen to everyone, then afterwards, each of you will chose your top five favorites." Crowley said. "Then those fifteen will play another song and you'll narrow it down to six candidates, who will play one more song. From there, you'll decide who your overall favorite.

"Will, you have until tomorrow morning to decide what song to play." Will nodded, mandola already in hand with an eager grin on his face as he glanced at Halt out of the corner of his eye.

* * *

 **A/N So that's the prologue. I have a total of fifty-two contestants that are going to participate, since Will moves back into Halt's cabin and Halt moves into the castle, and the fifty-first ranger moves into Seacliffe.**

 **I believe that Halt mentioned that there are already three other Will's in the Corps? I already have five characters and their songs picked out (Will, Halt, Horace, Crowley, and Gilan), but I need 44 OCs (you can send in official characters so long as they're Rangers) and three people for the other Wills.**

 **Songs will obviously be modern day songs, just basically any song you like can be in here. If your character makes it past round one, I'll let you know via the chapter with Alyss, Cassandra, and Pauline deciding who's continuing, and you comment your characters next song.**

 **Here's the form to send in (you can PM or place it in the comments)**

 **Name:**

 **Song:**

 **Time since graduation:**

 **Fief:**


	2. Chapter 1 (Will and Mearlon)

**A/N We have our first two contestants! To clear a few things up, I currently have 11 out of 52 candidates, and an apprentice (I'll intgrate Fira into there, and is Fira male or female?)**

 **Mandolyn Altman: Who's the author of 'What a Day to Call'? I've been looking for it online, but I can't find it, and I'm going to have to replace the song if I can't find it by the time I put the next chapter up.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1 (Will & Meralon)**

After the Rangers and their guests had all been assembled, Will picked up his mandola, and look at Crowley, waiting for his cue.

"First up, we have **Will, the junior Ranger of Redmont fief**! Everyone give Will a hand for being brave and showing up instead of taking off." The Rangers clapped for Will, but it quickly died off.

"Are you all ready?" The Ranger Commandant asked, and the Rangers all nodded while the guests replied with a ' _yes_ '. "Alright Will, show us what you've got." Will grinned, and pulled the first few notes, his grin growing at the look on Halts face (and the confusion on everyone else's).

" _Greybeard Halt is a friend of mine_

" _He lives on Redmont hill_

" _Greybeard Halt never took a bath_

" _And they say he never will!"_

So far things seemed to be going alright, and the other Rangers were laughing at Halts expense. Will entered the second verse.

" _Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt_

" _Fare thee well, I say_

" _Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt_

" _I'll see you on your way."_

Will knew from the look on his former mentor's face that he'd probably be sleeping in a tree once they got back to Redmont, but he plowed ahead.

" _Greybeard Halt, he lost a bet_

" _He lost his winter coat_

" _When winter comes Halt stays warm_

" _By sleeping 'mongst the goats."_

Halt had his hand clenched, and Gilan spared a glance at halt, before looking back at Will, barely able to contain his laughter.

" _Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt_

" _Fare thee well, I say_

" _Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt_

" _I'll see you on your way."_

Halt wanted to know how many verses were left, and how much longer before he could throw his annoying former apprentice in the closest moat.

" _Greybeard Halt, he lives with goats_

" _That's what I've heard tell_

" _He hasn't changed his socks for years_

" _But the goats don't mind the smell!"_

Crowley looked at Halt and finally realized how angry his old friend was. He glanced at Will, and mouthed ' _once you're done, run as fast as you can'_ Will nodded slightly even as he launched into the chorus.

" _Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt_

" _Fare thee well, I say_

" _Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt_

" _I'll see you on your way."_

The youngest Ranger grinned as he thought over his parody, and how much the Rangers seemed at be enjoying it.

" _Greybeard Halt is a fighting man_

" _I've heard common talk_

" _That Greybeard Halt, he cuts his hair_

" _With a carving knife and fork!"_

As Will finished the song, he prepared at run.

" _Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt_

" _Fare thee well, I say_

" _Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt_

" _I'll see you on your way."_

The Rangers cheered as Will leapt to his feet. He bowed once before taking off in the direction of Tug. Mearlon stood and took Will's place, and waited for Crowley's announcement.

"Now we have Mearlon, from **Caraway fief!** Everyone give Mearlon a hand!" He nodded to the Ranger, and Mearlon started singing.

" _Trust, the, cloak_

" _Coffee comes first_

" _Now we can stop this war_

" _Won't screw up_

" _Getting rid of a nasty cult_

" _Crossbow being shot at us_

" _Back to work_

" _Just burned the bridge_

" _Technically a slave right now_

" _We're escaped slaves_

" _Now we're helping win this war_

" _Not gonna let Ragnak kill her_

" _Return to Araluan"_

The Rangers nodded appreciatively, and quieted down for this next song, grinning at the references to Will's time in Skandia.

" _Coffee comes first_

" _One riot, one Ranger_

" _More power than most anyone_

" _Except the king of Araluan_

" _Never give up_

" _Ranger's get oakleaves_

" _Halt threw him in the moat_

" _Chocho"_

Gilan leaned back, nodding to the beat of the song, barely keeping himself from laughing at Wills nickname, or the fact that the only Rangers who knew the meaning were Halt, Will, himself, and Crowley (Halt had put it in the report).

" _Trust, the, cloak_

" _Two dozen_

" _Lives in our quiver_

" _Let's get some Ranger swag_

" _We're hunting two Kalkara_

" _Only weak against fire_

" _It's your turn to burn"_

Crowley stood and left to check on Will, but stayed close enough to hear the music (i.e. he just didn't want to be seen singing along to the song he'd written behind Will and Halt's backs).

" _Stand in the back_

" _Without being noticed_

" _Watching everyone else_

" _We get to save lives_

" _Don't practice until you get it right_

" _Practice until you can't never get it wrong_

" _Coffee comes first_

" _One riot, one Ranger_

" _More power than most anyone_

" _Except the king of Araluan_

" _Never give up_

" _Ranger's get oakleaves_

" _Halt threw him in the moat_

" _Chocho"_

Halt returned dragging Will behind him and heard the final stanzas to the song, and instantly looked around for Crowley, reaching for his saxe as he realized who'd written the song.

" _Cut your hair with a saxe knife_

" _I fell hard for you the first time we met_

" _People saw what they will_

" _Always expect something to go wrong_

" _Don't tell apprentices about the passcode_

" _We love it when they get bucked off_

" _Ranger horses are perfect, thanks Old Bob"_

The Rangers all nodded in agreement, murmuring thanks to the horse breeder.

" _Coffee comes first_

" _One riot, one Ranger_

" _More power than most anyone_

" _Except the king of Araluan_

" _Never give up_

" _Ranger's get oakleaves_

" _Halt threw him in the moat_

" _Chocho_

" _Never give up_

" _Ranger's get oakleaves_

" _Halt threw him in the moat_

" _Chocho_

" _Trust, the, cloak (Ranger)_

" _Trust, the, cloak (Ranger)"_

Crowley finally returned, and stood up.

"Unless someone else wants to go now, I guess we'll stop for now." Then, surprisingly, Ross stood and took Mearlon's place.

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 **A/N So there's that! Hope it lived up to your expectations, and for those of you who haven't figured it out, I'm rewriting the songs you're sending in so they fit the series.**

 **To sent in a contestant review or PM:**

 **Name:**

 **Song:**

 **Time since gradutation (TSG):**

 **Fief:**


	3. Sorry (AN)

Guys, I'm sorry.

Originally I was just going to pause these fics for the summer because I wasn't going to be on my computer then school started back up and I realized that I'd lost the thing that I keep all of these fics on.

There are one or two I can continue without it, mainly because I didn't write up anything else up on them, and I could start from stratch (and to be honest, I have NO idea where that's going).

But the rest I had several chapters planned and now without the information I have nothing to go over for myself, much less all of you.

I'll try to continue some of these where I left off, but it'll be hard after so long without really thinking about the fics and little to no idea about where I was going with them.

I'm not just asking for your forgiveness, I'm also asking for patience.

And please let me know via the reviews which story you'd like me to focus on.

~Oreo out


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